Does this sound fair?

jim_51

Local temps finally dipped, and it became clear that the boiler that services our second floor (separate boiler for first floor) wasn't firing. We have one pipe steam.
Unfortunately for us, the nearest Wallie is several hours away and we had to call a local outfit (we've had good service from them in the past, but they're no "All Steamed Up.")
A young tech is dispatched, discovers it's a bum gas valve- the part must be ordered. Two days later, he's back, part installed, no problem. Then the bill.
We're charged for 3 1/2 hours labor to install the valve and thermocouple. Seems high, but what do I know. The thing that REALLY gets me is that he charged us 3 hours labor for the initial call _to decide that the valve was bad_.
Well, he simply wasn't here for more than an hour. Didn't have a stop watch on me, but...
I expected a service charge for the initial call, but this seems exorbitant, say nothing of untrue- though that's simply my word against the tech's. Any advice? If this seems within reason to you guys, I won't give it another thought.
Thanks,
Patrick

Techman

Fair?

GoodMorning Patrick,call the office and ask the owner.

Paul Fredricks_9

Pretty tough to make a call on this one from the other side of a computer. I see lots of calls where the customer claims we were there only 20 minutes. Turns out it's more like an hour. Our trucks have GPS so we can check to see how long they were actually there. If they have GPS they should be able to check.

Don't forget too that he had to drive there which adds to the time charged for.

Have you brought this up with the company yet to get their take on it?

jim_51

Well, if it was a matter of 20 mintues versus an hour, I wouldn't quibble, but we're starting to get into serious walking around money, so I thought I'd check in with you all before getting "officially" bent out of shape.
The owner is a good guy- I wouldn't bother questioning it if you guys didn't think this raised red flags.
Thanks,
Patrick

Unknown

Get a clear idea,,,

of what his travel was to and from plus the amount of time he spent there. Then decide whether to call based on that info. It wouldn't be the first time a tech tried to cover his tracks by charging the customer extra time. If this is the case I'm sure the owner would want to know.

Mark Eatherton

Was it on a weekend?

Technicians get compensated extra for being on cal...

ME

jim_51

Nope...

Not a weekend or "emergency" call, and I don't have a problem with his hourly rate. The only thing I'm concerned with is the time he's claiming it took to diagnose the problem. Door to door travel time is about 15 minutes. Assuming I was charged for travel time both ways and then rounding up (100%) to the nearest hour (an hour for travel time), is 2 hours to say "yep, you have a bad gas valve" to be expected? Don't want to gripe if this is on par.
I don't mind paying for quality work, but I don't want to be snowed, either, and this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Didn't want to put anyone on the spot- guess I'll just politely voice the concern and see what happens.
Thanks, all,
Patrick

John Starcher_4

Billing mistakes can happen!

I'm not implying that the tech made one, I'm just saying that they do happen sometimes. Anyone who claims to have NEVER billed someone incorrectly is lying or just has a really bad memory.

It has happened in our firm, and when the client called (thankfully) to question the charges, we fixed it immediately.

amhplumb_2

Could any of the time be to pick up the "parts that needed to be ordered"? Just a thought. As another wallie recommended, call back and ask for a break down of the charges.

EJW_3

Travel time

Maybe you were charged travel from his last job and not there shop? I assume thats where you get the 15 minutes?